An old Austrian peasant group dance. It became a partner dance around 1750 in Austria, Bohemia, and Bavaria.

The steps changed from a hopping or stomping, to a gliding rotation in the 1800's, danced to a 3/4 music beat.

It arrived in England in 1815.  Per the Oxford English Dictionary it was described as "riotous and indecent" because it had become a couples dance instead of the original group dance.

By the end of the eighteenth century this old peasant dance had been accepted by high society.